The Academy launched Challenges for International Scientific Partnerships in 2018 to assess the benefits of international collaboration, identify persistent challenges to multi-national scientific efforts, and recommend solutions that will help scientists work together.
The project, led by Arthur Bienenstock (Stanford University) and Peter Michelson (Stanford University), examines the opportunities and challenges of international collaboration in two major areas of study:
-
The Large-Scale Science group, co-chaired by Drs. Bienenstock and Michelson, studies international collaborations through the lens of issues particular to large-scale science, such as European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), space missions like the International Space Station, and life science initiatives such as the Human Genome Project.
-
The Emerging Science Partners effort focuses on U.S. collaborations with countries seeking to boost their scientific capacity, particularly those with limited resources and often with women researchers in the developing world. This working group is co-chaired by Olufunmilayo Olopade (University of Chicago) and Shirley Malcom (American Association for the Advancement of Science).
The emergence and spread of the novel coronavirus shaped the decision of these project leaders to issue a joint statement supporting scientific collaborations. The statement highlights that
- scientific research is inherently global now,
- international collaborations are essential to unlocking scientific discoveries in all disciplines, and
- U.S. participation in international scientific partnerships will preserve a leadership role in scientific research with the attendant cultural, economic, and political benefits.
Read the statement here.
Through in-person conferences and virtual meetings, Challenges for International Scientific Partnerships has held both in-person conferences and virtual meetings with scientists, science administrators, and policymakers around the world, including in Africa, the Asia and Pacific region, Europe, the Latin America and Caribbean region, the Middle East and North Africa region, and North America.
Learn more about the Challenges for International Scientific Partnerships here.
The project is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan, William and Flora Hewlett, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundations.